The concerns ultrasound apparatus for determining whether a female large animal, especially a cow or a mare, is gravid, with an ultrasonic head that has an ultrasound transmitter and receiver at one face and with a housing that accommodates a signal generator and a battery or a connection to an external source of electricity for operating the apparatus, whereby the transmitter-receiver is connected to the signal generator and battery or external-source connection by a cable.
When detecting with ultrasound apparatus it is absolutely necessary in order to obtain informative results for the face of the ultrasonic head to rest flat against the subject being scanned, especially without any air gap between the face and the subject. A contacting agent, a gel or oil for example, is accordingly applied in practice to the face of the head.
Using ultrasound apparatus to determine whether a female large animal, especially a cow or mare, is gravid is particularly difficult because the animal will not hold still. It is accordingly not only necessary to pass the ultrasonic head over the animal's skin or hair while trying to locate the subject to be detected, entailing the risk of rubbing off the contacting agent, but the constant motion of the head makes it impossible to ensure reliable contact between it and the animal, without, that is, an air gap between them.
Ultrasound apparatus of this type is known from German GM 8 507 700 and is especially intended for use on swine, sheep, goats, and cows. The ultrasonic head has a rubber ring at the opposite end in the transmitter-receiver. The rubber ring is intended to prevent damage to the transmitter-receiver from the rough usage encountered in barns. One drawback to this known apparatus is that the ultrasonic head must be directly positioned by hand while the subject is being scanned and that there is nothing in the vicinity of the face of the ultrasonic head to prevent the contacting agent from being rubbed off while the head is being moved over the skin or hair of the animal. This apparatus can accordingly only be reliably employed in the barn once the animal being examined has been extensively immobilized and cannot thrash around and injure the person carrying out the examination. Using the apparatus outside, especially at remote locations where it is impossible to force the animal against the wall of the stall, however, is ruled out.